[ Sunday, November 30, 2003 ]
Sunday SundayMy allergies have been bothering me again. That and the smell of the freshly varnished new furniture in my bedroom are bothering my nose so I really slept in this morning until 10:00 AM! Poor Matthew had to play by himself for a couple of hours, watching TV while I slumbered.
So how did I repay him for being so good? I put him to work! Hahaha! Actually I started him on a weekly allowance today (for which I had been promising him for a long time now) and told him that he would have to start earning it. He's so good though, that he really likes to do things to help me out if he can. I'm giving him $3 a week, and told him that he gets to keep and spend $1, put $1 in his piggy bank to save and $1 to donate to a charity.
After our late breakfast I started to trim the trees and shrubs in the front of the house which had gotten overgrown these past many months, while Matthew played by himself outside and inside (he got too hot outside and went back in the house). We took a lunch break and then stopped at the hardware store to buy Matthew his own pair of gardening gloves and when we got home, started to work.
While I did more trimming with my hedgeclippers, Matthew raked up the leaves and cleaned up. He was a great little helper!
After getting the front yard cleaned up, it was time to get into the Christmas spirit and put up the lights around the front.
Getting into the Christmas spirit!
Ughh, back to work after 4 days off.... Wow, but it's hard to believe that tomorrow is the first of December already!
yam [11:33 PM 0 comments ]
[ Saturday, November 29, 2003 ]
Another Slow DayDidn't do much today except relax and get things around the house organized. Since I got the new bedroom furniture yesterday, I spent most of today lining the drawers, sorting through my clothes and organizing them in the new space, trying to decide which old stuff to keep and which to throw away, and watching a SpongeBob SquarePants marathon with Matthew. It's amazing how much old stuff I had in my drawers that was just stuffed away in the back and I was too lazy to sort through them. I'm too embarrassed to tell you just how old some of that stuff was! I still have a few boxes of things that I pulled out of my old drawers that I need to sort through tomorrow.
Ohh, already I got my new accessories for the Treo today (you know, of course, that the expensive toy would mean mo' money since I have to get some accessories too. But I got a pretty good deal on those accessories at Wireless Ground and they came so fast! I saved about $30 instead of buying through the Handspring site, for the exact same items! Woo-Hoo!
Here are just a couple of pictures from today...
Balls?
Trying out the new Picture Mail to J
Turkey leftovers turned into turkey noodle soup
yam [10:18 PM 0 comments ]
[ Friday, November 28, 2003 ]
Day OffThe day after Thanksgiving was just a slow, easy going day today, and I took a few pictures with the new Treo 600 (yeah, the quality sucks, but it's so convenient to have all the time) throughout the day. The weather was quite warm (upper 70's) for late November, so we hopped into the roadster and drove around town, did a few errands (purposely stayed AWAY from the malls and department stores!), ate leftover turkey samiches for lunch and enjoyed some time to myself when Matthew's best friend came over to play all afternoon. But I spent a big part of the afternoon trying to resolve some issues with the Sprint account I have with the new Treo 600. You can tell it's a new product (and VERY high-tech) because they still have a bunch of kinks in their system that have yet to be worked out. Give me another day or two to play with it before I give you my full review. So far it's not as great as I had hoped, but still is pretty darn cool and does so many things, in one small package.
OMG! It's a new Krispy Kreme down the street!
(OK, J, now if this doesn't make you want to visit...)
Going for a drive
Cool old Volvo in the rear
(do ya see the Treo 600?)
Matthew picked out a "Thinking Of You" balloon for his mom
Shopping at Trader Joe's
Matthew got a little treat at TJ's
Getting a cool drink from Lollicup
(whaddya mean the boba's not ready yet?)
Nicky came to visit
The boys played all afternoon
Got my new bedroom furniture!
(it's crowded until I get rid of the old stuff)
Ahh, two more days left in this extended weekend...
yam [11:09 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, November 27, 2003 ]
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
*BURP* 'Scuse me, but I am really stuffed from tonight's Thanksgiving Day feast. I must say that I really outdid myself again, and everything in tonight's meal came out really good! Go HERE to see how are day and meal went.
Even though I make a big deal out of our Thanksgiving Day binge (I need to work out!), what's most important is that I give thanks for all the good things that we have this year. Here's a list of what I'm thankful for this year (in no particular order):
* That my parents are still relatively healthy, despite growing so much older before my eyes.
* That I'm lucky enough to have a good paying job so that Matthew and I don't have to struggle with money, even though it's a struggle being a single parent.
* That I am so lucky to have J & K in my life for most of the year, and that even though they are so far away, they are always close in my heart.
* That so many of you continue to visit here and are interested in our lives.
* That both Matthew and myself have good health.
* That I have a really good set of friends that care about us, even though we may not see them often.
* That Matthew is one awesome kid and so easy to raise.
* And most of all, that God watches out for us, loves us and has a plan for us that we know will eventually be a really good one.
Treo 600 review
Coming soon....
yam [9:26 PM 0 comments ] Thanksgiving Prep
All right, lots of catching up to do. After losing all of my write up on Monday, and getting totally distracted by my high-tech goodies, I kinda of lost my incentive to write stuff. But I'm going to try and recover some of it from the vast recesses of my brain. Since It's getting late I think the best I can do for now is to tell what we're going to have for Thanksgiving and maybe a few tips on how I'm making it.
Brine (with herbs) and Icing Down the Turkey
Started preparing for Thursday's "big" meal (for only 5 of us this year) tonight. Once again I'm going to brine my turkey after pretty good success last year. I filled up a big stock pot with water, added in two cups of kosher salt, about a cup and a half of brown sugar, and some sprigs of fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary. I brought it all to a boil and then cooled it off with a cold water bath in the sink. I cleaned and washed the turkey and placed it inside of an ice chest, then added ice and the cooled off brine. I'll let it soak overnight before roasting it in the oven tomorrow. I'll have more on how I cook it then.
Giblets (what the heck is a "giblet?")
While the brine was cooking, I took out all of the giblets (neck, tail, "innards") and put them in a medium sauce pan of water. I added a couple of tablespoons of salt, chopped celery and onion, and a few sprigs of those fresh herbs. I boiled this for about an hour and will use the "soup" and chopped giblets to make my gravy with the turkey drippings, and use the veggies inside of the stuffing.
And speaking of stuffing, I'm using the boxed Mrs. Cubbison's bread stuffing, but adding the cooked veggies, maple-honey sausages, fresh-roasted hazelnuts (I didn't know they are also called "Filberts") and sauteed mushrooms to perk it up a bit.
Cranberries and Mangoes
The other thing I made tonight was the cranberries, but I'm trying something a little different this time by adding in a whole fresh mango. I started with two cups of water and two cups of sugar, bringing them to a boil. Added in a bag of cranberries, a whole diced mango, and a teaspoon of lemon and lime juices. Boiled them all for 10 minutes and this will chill in the fridge overnight. Hmm, the combination of cranberries and mangoes smells really good, so I hope that it will taste good on the turkey tomorrow!
What's left tomorrow to make will be the Maple-glazed yams with pecan topping, steamed baby broccoli with hollandaise sauce, and fresh bread (mix) in my bread machine. Also got some fancy crackers with smoked salmon to serve as an appetizer and my mom is bringing some dessert.
Yeah, it's gonna be a good meal!!!
(Check back for more cooking updates, Treo 600 review and Thanksgiving stories!)
yam [12:30 AM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, November 26, 2003 ]
Not enough time or mental energy right now to really right up those things that I was hoping to do, but for now I'll leave you with some pictures taken with the new PDA/phone today (when the lighting is good, the pictures are pretty poor). Check back later on tonight and I might have more stuff to write about, if I have time after some pre-Thanksgiving prep this evening...
Of course, Matthew is my first subject
Some of the guys in the office
Almost ready to deliver
Traffic during the dusk hours
yam [9:38 PM 0 comments ] Yeah, was pre-occupied last night with the new toy, so i didn't have a chance to make an update. I will try to do it sometime during the day, since I don't know how much work is actually going to be done today, with Thanksgiving being tomorrow. Topics in my mind are Thanksgiving dinner prep, initial observations on the new Treo 600, and things that I'm thankful for...
yam [8:56 AM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, November 25, 2003 ]
It's on a truck for delivery to my house!!! Damn, I'm not there to receive it!UPDATE (9:45pm): The Fedex delivery guy just left it on my doorstep, so when I got home it was there waiting for me!!! What is IT? Go HERE to find out... I'll describe my experience on this tomorrow.
yam [10:16 AM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, November 24, 2003 ]
ArrghhI had typed up a long entry for tonight, for my T-Day preparation and then my computer crashed and I lost it all. Bleah. Maybe I'll try to write up again later, but for now let me just leave you with this sent to me from my friend Kim:
Happy Thanksgiving
'TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING AND I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.
I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS, I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.
THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED - THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.
TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.
SO I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.
I GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.
I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.
I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING, FLOATING INTO THE SKY
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.
BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES . . .
"HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE."
MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP,
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N' GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS, MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE.
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.
BODY UPDATE:
174.8lbs 30% Body Fat
(I didn't want to update on Saturday night after having a cheeseburger... my BF shot up to 32%!)
yam [10:11 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, November 23, 2003 ]
New ToyI couldn't wait any longer for this new toy that I've been wanting for some time now (those of you "in-the-know" will know what I'm talking about), so when I saw that it was available for a great price (not in the configuration I wanted though) I went and bought it. Should receive it in a week or so, and then I'll fill you in on the details. Early Christmas for me!!
yam [12:52 PM 0 comments ]
[ Saturday, November 22, 2003 ]
Beautiful Day in L.A.
One of my favorite places to visit, is Malaga Cove, on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. You can see downtown Los Angeles in the distance, in the upper right. You can also see how we are surrounded by mountains to the north. The air was very brisk and windy this morning, but not a cloud in the sky and bright sunshine. So, needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot done after taking Matthew to his soccer game this morning, as we just enjoyed the outdoors today.
UPDATE: (10:00pm)
Well, after all of that wind last night and this morning, spending a lot of time outdoors today, and 2 plus hours with 8 rambunctuous boys and a whole mess of screaming kids tonight (Kid Concepts party for Matthew's soccer team) and my sinuses are really going wacky tonight. We were supposed to go to our Family fellowship group meeting tonight, but it got kinda late after the party, I hadn't eaten dinner yet and my sinuses were just starting to bog me down, so after eating, we passed on that.
yam [5:09 PM 0 comments ] The Dilemma - The Price For Love
This is quite possibly the most difficult thing I've had to do. No, at least the second. Watching the person you loved the most, that you planned your life to be with, that you started a family with, slowly die right in front of your eyes was definitely the most difficult thing that I've ever done. But that was a once (hopefully) in a lifetime event that I would not want to wish upon anyone. I survived it. Thought we were doing well, and basically we are, but I know that we could do a lot better, so I will be seeking some help. But we are definitely moving on. OK, so I totally digressed. What I wanted to write about was this long-distance romance that I have going on with J.
It's really late but I have all these things I wanted to put down in words before I head off to sleep. First off, I have to say that J is the most incredible person that I've ever had the privilege of knowing. She's funny, smart, sexy, spiritual, exciting, beautiful, etc., etc.. We have the most incredible chemistry, and the emotions and passion have been so intense right from the beginning. When I say intense, I mean that both ways as we've had many ups and downs with our emotions running on high octane. But on the flip side, from our first conversation to our first time together, the comfort level between us was amazingly so right. Our backgrounds are totally opposite, and she's had some tragic, even horrific experiences in her life, but they made her into the most compassionate, caring, loving person. All of these things made me fall so head-over heels in love with her, as one might expect. OK, when J reads this she's going to be embarrassed, so I better stop there, although I could go on and on shouting my praises for her.
Of course the point of this entry was to describe the difficulty of the situation. OK, just a little bit more of the good things. Her daughter K (who is 8, going on 13) is the direct product of her mom and also a quite wonderful girl. She's had some problems adjusting to her crazy situation, but otherwise is doing quite well. When the four of us got together for the first time, it was creepy how good the pieces all seemed to fit together. Granted, it was mostly superficial, but still we did seem to make quite a match. Which makes our current situation so difficult.
Even though it really feels like we all belong together, it is a test of time that will bode this out, along with whatever God's plan is for us. But we haven't had much of a chance to really attempt to test this out. Currently we are more than a thousand miles apart, which is better than the 2500 miles that used to separate us, but because she's no longer in this country, that adds more complexity instead of just distance. We have our life and family here in SoCal, and she is restarting her life with her family in her current location (due to some circumstances totally out of her control).
Because of a number of factors (which I MAY get into at some other time) we can't really be together right now, and it's even difficult to just spend some time together. Hopefully when certain situations in our lives settle down, we can at least test out our blend of two worlds to see if they will continue to be good or if it will fade out. MY gut tells me (and I'm usually better off, believing in my gut feelings) that it will continue to be a good blend. So being apart has been very difficult.
This whole thing has got me thinking about all of the possible alternatives that we would have to seek, in order for us to be together. Will they move here? Can we move there? Would I be able to give up my job and home and friends and family to be with them? Could they do the same? (although J and her daughter have had to start all over in a new place, would they be willing to start over yet AGAIN, if they moved some place with us?) Do I spend lots of money fixing up my house, knowing that it's possible that I could be moving myself? With only a few months to go, I will be fully vested in my current job, but could I give up the 20 years and all of its benefits for potentially the happiest time in my life and Matthew's life? And those are just the tip of the iceberg.
Augh, it is soooo late and my mind is beginning to fade. I'll have to continue this later.
Stay tuned.
yam [2:24 AM 0 comments ]
[ Friday, November 21, 2003 ]
Too MuchOhh, I think that mental health day yesterday cleared out my mind too much! It took me a long while to get back to my usual scintillating memory and stellar wit and work this morning. I couldn't remember names or dates or seemingly anything for quite a while. After a thoroughly frustrating and annoying meeting this morning (due to one shmuck that works on our program who just doesn't know how to get along), my blood was pumping hard and I seemed to get back on track after we all talked smack behind his back! Hahaha!
Referral
Took me a while, but I finally got a referral to a family therapist for Matthew and myself through my work's employee assistance organization, but I wasn't able to call until late this afternoon, so all I could do was leave a message. Hopefully we can set up something next week.
Who's a turkey?
Whoa, Thanksgiving is less than a week away and I haven't done anything for it. I've cooked a big turkey dinner for the whole family for the past 8 years and I always enjoy it, but with this continual supermarket strike going on, I've really lost my desire to shop and cook a big meal this year. But I know that once I get started with the planning and shopping, I'll start to get my momentum back again and the meal will start to fall into place. Not sure what I'm going to make yet, but I think I'm going to brine my turkey again, since that worked out so well last year. And I think I'll have baked sweet potatoes (the yellow ones) instead of yams this year, because it seems that Matthew is really crazy about them now! Ohh, I guess I better start telling the family that I'm going to be cooking again this year, huh?
hmm, there was one more thing... what was it?....
Oh yeah, I was going to say that we had a great meal tonight! I didn't feel like cooking when we got home tonight, and I had a craving for some good fish, so we went to one of the local Chinese restaurants and I ordered the live steamed fish with black bean sauce, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, and some steamed rice. Ohh, it was so good, and Matthew really enjoyed it too! This was the first time that I've ever had so much of that fish because usually I've had it with a group of people and I'm lucky to get a little taste of it. And the plate of Chinese broccoli was so huge that there is lots of leftover and lots of rice, so all I need to do is cook a main dish and we have another meal!
Late Update: Got an e-mail from TJD tonight and it looks like all of my in-laws are going to be out of the country for Thanksgiving visiting relatives for a wedding, so my dinner plans are going to be scaled way back! It would have been nice to get together with everyone again, but it does kind of fit right in with this year's desire to have an "easy" Thanksgiving.
yam [10:49 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, November 20, 2003 ]
Mental Health DayTook the day off to take care of a few things and to just give myself a mental break from the every day grind. Most everything today helped me to clear my mind, to be able to cope with daily life.
After dropping Matthew off at school, I took the SUV into the shop to get the brakes replaced. Doh! That wasn't too good for my mental health because it needed a full brake replacement (pads, rotors, misc. parts) and ended up costing booku bucks! But it did need work, which had been on my mind for a while now and I feel safer.
Got a ride home from the shop, worked on some bills and cleaned up a few things around the house. Took the roadster out to the post office to send out a couple of things and got lunch at La Salsa (Yumm, thanks to Mikazuko for suggesting the Chile-Lime Salad!).
Went to get my haircut (always feel better after that!) and back home to wash out those little pokey hairs. I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I should go to the gym, but I eventually made my way over there and got almost an hour workout! Ahh, good for the mind and body, but my body is gonna give me "what for" tomorrow. Owwww!
Then I had to walk better than a mile over to the repair shop from my house (the weather is much cooler today than yesterday, about 65, but still very nice) and my legs were a bit wobbly, after doing some leg presses at the gym. It was nice to take a long walk and think about things, although I was kinda wondering about how J has been the last couple of days.
Next I was out to run some more errands, taking my time strolling through Target (ahh, a leisurely shopping trip is so good, and I rarely get the chance to do it!), buying some little things I need around the house, and a new lunchbox for Matthew, who "lost" his.
Tonight my parents came over and brought us dinner: fruit salad, rotisseried chicken, corn, baked sweet potatoes (Matthew's favorite!) and chocolate pudding for dessert! Yeah, talk about "good" for my mental health!
And finally tonight, my massage therapist is coming over to give me a massage, so that will totally top off my successful "Mental Health" day! I'll just try not to think about having to go back to work tomorrow... bleah.
Body Update:
174.8lbs 31% Fat
yam [8:14 PM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, November 19, 2003 ]
This 'n ThatI tried to get Matthew into the next level of the baseball league that he played in last year, but the commissioner of the league said that he couldn't do it. I thought that Matthew was a lot better than most of his teammates in the T-Ball division, as well as his coach, who told me that I could probably petition for him to move up a level (even though he's not old enough by about a month). Even Matthew said that he didn't want to play T-Ball any more because it was too easy and that he was frustrated that the other kids on the team weren't very good. I was told that because of the insurance carrier that covers the league, they can't bend the rules about age. That's so sad that something as "simple" as a kid's ball game is tainted by money. I guess it's going to be up to me to try hard to keep Matthew motivated and try to get him on a better T-Ball team, if I can.
Whoa, what's going on with the weather here again? It was 86 degrees today, after last week being in the upper 50's/lower 60's. But when I went to pick up Matthew from soccer practice before 5pm, it was "freezing" out there. I know, the temps probably weren't that low, but with a brisk wind, and damp air, it felt like the lower 40's. I guess that's the typical Fall weather here.
Taking a day off tomorrow to take care of a bunch of things around home, including car maintenance, home maintenance, body maintenance (gym?), and just having a "mental health"/catch-up day for myself.
Body Update:
175.8lbs 29% Fat
yam [11:24 PM 0 comments ] EEK!
This is kind of funny, yet on the other hand it's kinda scary too!
What to do if your Mom discovers your blog...
Good Riddance
I heard about this incident on the radio this morning (Mets fire scout for racially insensitive remarks), and needless to say, I'm glad that the New York Mets acted swiftly and came down hard on this jerk. While doing some quick research on this story on the web this morning, I found some other interesting info and sites:
Ng Is Victim of Racial Taunts (you need an ID and password for this LA Times site)
Mets front office member makes racial remarks to Dodgers' Kim Ng (Asian Athlete)
Singer will be fired (NY Daily News)
Angry Asian Man
yam [9:18 AM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, November 18, 2003 ]
Happy Birthday Bob S.!!Ohh, OK, so I'm a little bit late if you go by Eastern Time, but he's from SoCal, so technically I'm still on time! Hope you had a great one, Bob!
Hoops
Uploaded all of the pictures and some stories from Sunday's final basketball game of the season. I also added a few more pictures from the weekend, back on the Sunday entry.
Fat Fat, the Water Rat!
I ordered one of those bathroom scale/Body Fat monitors and it arrived in the mail yesterday. I always wondered about my body fat percentage so I broke down and bought one, since we needed a new bathroom scale anyway. So, I MAY post my progress here, as I attempt to lose a few pounds and try to reduce some of my fat content. I've been riding on my NordicTrak a few times a night, and doing a few exercises around the house, so we'll see how it goes. Where do I stand as of last night? Eeek!! 177 lbs, 31% body fat (which is actually in the middle of the acceptable range, for my age bracket). If I'm properly encouraged, I let you know how it's going...
Grobanite
I also received from Amazon, my copy of Josh Groban's newest CD, Closer. After listening to it about a half a dozen times, I have to say that I think it's even better than his first album! I think it's much more refined and doesn't have as much of that David Foster glitz and pomp that the first album had.
J Bloggy Blog
I've been trying to convince J to start her own blog site since she always seems to have so many interesting adventures in her life on a daily basis. She's an incredibly outgoing and friendly person and will talk and make friends with strangers all the time (totally not like me). She's had some amazing experiences (some good and some not-so-good) in her life and I think that it would be really great to share some of those stories. Take today, for instance. While working out at the gym the past couple of days, she met this woman there, who works in a correctional facility with convicted sex offenders and after some talking, actually asked J to go and speak at the jail. Whoa. Not sure if she's going to actually do that, but as she said, it sure does raise a lot of stimulating conversation.
yam [11:57 PM 0 comments ]
Hello, anyone there?
yam [4:36 PM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, November 17, 2003 ]
Nothing MuchToo many things to do around the house tonight, so I don't have much of a blog entry, but I finally uploaded a new video, on the left side there, of Matthew playing the point guard position in his basketball game yesterday, and getting an assist with Tyler's basket. Select your dowload speed and enjoy the Realplayer video!
yam [11:49 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, November 16, 2003 ]
Hoops Season Ends!It was a lot of fun, but I'm kind of glad that Matthew's basketball season has come to an end. It was a great day, and the weather was awesome, but I'm tired so I won't have much of an update tonight. But I'll leave you with a few pictures from today.
Fall is here
Matthew at the point (from video)
Surfing the web
Balancing act
The neighbor dog coming to visit
yam [9:25 PM 0 comments ]
[ Saturday, November 15, 2003 ]
Cutie!!
Matthew's best friend's little brother at today's soccer game
How can you not love this face!!
It was pretty much a regular Saturday for us, with Matthew's soccer game in the morning (they won!), running a few errands, getting some lunch and some shopping. The weather was threatening to rain all day long, and it probably added to Matthew's feeling tired and a bit under-the-weather after only a little bit of shopping, so we came home early. I thought I would just rest for a bit while Matthew took a nap, and then I went and fell asleep myself for about an hour! So, I didn't really get anything done this afternoon, like I had hoped, but an afternoon nap on a chilly damp day sure felt good.
Then it was time for Matthew's final basketball practice of the season tonight. It's fun to see how the boys are starting to really enjoy being with each other and also to see that most of the parents now too, are starting to really get along well. Tomorrow is their last game, followed by the end-of-season team party. Look for photos, of course.
Easy Reader
There has been an incredible increase in Matthew's reading ability after just two months in the first grade. A whole new world has just opened up to him, now that he realizes that there's so much more information available if he just reads the signs that are all around. He's really keeping me on my toes now when we drive around town and he's reading out loud, every sign that he sees. I try to help him to learn to read the words without giving him all the answers. That can really be a challenge. It makes me realize just how tough the English language is when I try to explain things like "Home Depot" (the "T" is silent), "Weinerschnitzel" (whew!), and "Mervyn's" (not pronounced "Mer-vines"). There were a bunch of others, but so many I couldn't recall them. I'll try to remember more, as I'm sure there will be a lot more to come.
Deep Thoughts
Lately Matthew has been thinking a lot about our little family of two. I'm sure he sees his new friends at school that have a mom and dad and siblings, and feels that it would be nice to be like them. The other day he said, "I wish mommy was still here with us so that we could have some more babies."
And then today he says "I hope that I can have a brother before you die".
"What?", I said.
"Yeah, I hope that you can find a girl to marry and have another baby so that I can have a brother or something before you die".
"You'd like to have a brother or sister, huh?"
"Why can't you just marry Auntie J?"
"Hmm, well I'm afraid it's not that easy to just marry someone."
"Why not?"
"Well, because both people have to be ready to do it, they have to be sure that it's the right thing to do for each of them, and it would help a lot if they lived a lot closer to each other."
"Oh, yeah."
I don't think I really convinced him of that one.
BTW, next week I'm going to look into counseling for both Matthew and myself. We both have several issues that need to be explored and worked on, fer sure.
yam [11:50 PM 0 comments ] Mini-Moo!
Congrats to Cyn and M on their much awaited arrival!! So cute!!!
yam [9:25 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, November 13, 2003 ]
PerspectiveGot a good serving of perspective and a large dose of reality again today. I went to visit one of my coworkers, S, today to ask him about some confusing information that he sent out this morning. After talking to him for just a minute or two, he admitted that his mind wasn't really into his work because he had just found out last night that he lost his brother-in-law (his wife's brother).
He was only 35 years old and died in his sleep. He said that they had just taken him out for his birthday a week ago Saturday and seemed pretty healthy and happy. It just happened suddenly, whatever the cause was, and took everyone in the family by surprise. Apparently, the coroner said that he probably died about three or four days before. He lived alone, his girlfriend was out of the country visiting family, and no one went to check on him until days after he had already passed away.
What was really surreal was what happened prior to S finding out about his brother-in-law's passing. Saturday night, his wife was awakened by a very strange feeling, a feeling like someone was hugging her, accompanied by a very cold drafty sensation. She discussed it with him and with her sister and everyone thought that she was just having a dream, even though she insisted that she was awake when that feeling cam upon her. So, when the news came that her brother had died and that it was probably Saturday night when he died, well needless to say everyone was totally freaked out! You can make a judgment for yourself, but I definitely believe that it was the brother saying goodbye to his sister.
Anyways, for me, this was just another wake-up call to remember that nothing is more important that life itself, I need to take better care of my health, and that there are so many trivial things that I really shouldn't make a big deal about. Not that I needed any reminders about how short life is, but we all do get caught up in our daily lives and this was definitely a very sobering day.
yam [9:15 PM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, November 12, 2003 ]
Weird WeatherMost of the day today, where I work, it was mostly sunny with a few clouds floating around, but you could see some heavy cloud cover sounding the LA basin. Normally we get our storm track from the west, but if you watched the satellite picture today, you could see that a storm was coming up from the south. Late in the afternoon, when you looked north and east, the sky was pitch black, while to the west there was bright sunshine and a beautiful orange and crimson sunset. (Damn, didn't have my camera!) The TV news was covering all sorts of rain problems and flash floods in parts of LA, but we had not even gotten a drop of rain.
Matthew and his soccer team were lucky that they got to practice this afternoon, and when I arrived they were out on the field having a good time. It was chilly, you could see the lightening off in the distance, but still dry. Tonight as I was cooking dinner (a chicken, baby broccoli, tomato noodle stir-fry dish), the lightning and thunder got closer and closer to us.
Before the lightning
Almost catching the lightning with the camera!
(You can faintly see a little bit of it)
And before too long, the rains came and dumped on us too!
It didn't really rain for that long, but enough so that I won't have to water the yard for a few days!
Rain hitting the LA area
Bug Bite Update
This morning, the school nurse called me at work saying that Matthew was sent in because of his swollen eye and face. Since there was no school yesterday, they didn't know that he'd been like this for a couple of days now. I told the nurse that I had called the doctor and had given him some Benedryl already and that he was under close watch. She said that was fine and I didn't hear any more for the rest of the day. When I picked up Matthew this afternoon, the swelling under his eye and on his face had gone down noticibly!
yam [8:38 PM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, November 11, 2003 ]
Matthew UpdateWhen Matthew woke up this morning his eye was looking a lot worse today from those bug bites! Like he literally got beat up, with a big mouse under his eye. He was feeling OK other than the swelling and the redness, so I took him into daycare (there was no school today because of the Veteran's Day holiday). After I went into work I called Matthew's doctor's office and talked to the nurse. She said to just give him more Benedryl for a couple of days, and if it doesn't get any worse, he should be all right. I hope so, because he sure doesn't look all that great.
Work Work Work
Man, today was one of my busiest days at work in a long time. I've been working for several weeks putting together these new proceures and a few days putting together a training package for my group. And today I had to present the training to our department, which ended up taking two full hours. Doesn't really sound that bad, except that my group is made up of a bunch of very opinionated, hard-nosed folks, so it was definitely challenging. Sure made the day go by fast though. I've been tasked to do more training on the other procedures, a couple of times a week, until Christmas, so I definitely have my work cut out for me.
Pumpkin Smash
Made another visit to Jamba Juice today at lunch and tried out the new seasonal flavor of Pumkin Smash. It tasted a lot like a pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream and the first few sips were really good. But after a few more, the flavor was getting a bit overpowering and I had to take smaller and smaller sips to finish it up. Well, so it wasn't the greatest, but worth trying something new for a change.
Happy Belated Birthday Mikey!
After work Mike stopped by and Matthew and I took Mike out to dinner for his birthday (which was actually last week). I thought about taking him to Lucille's Barbecue, thinking that everywhere would be slow on a Tuesday night, but totally forgot that it was a holiday. It was really crowded there and we just went in and out.
So we just went down the street and went to (actually my first choice) I-naba Japanese restaruant. We had a fabulous dinner of salad, tsukemono, chawan mushi, sashimi, and two plates of tempura with rice (it should have been good for $30 each!). Probably one of the best Japanese restaurants around. Later, Mike came back to the house and we chatted for a while and caught up on what's been going on. Whew, I'm still stuffed!
yam [11:21 PM 0 comments ] Happy Veteran's Day!
Thanks to all those who have fought for our freedoms, those who have given their lives for this country and those who are still fighting abroad so that we may continue to be free.
New Josh
Oh, the new Josh Groban CD comes out today and I tell ya, that I think it's just as good as his first one was. And his record label is so cool, they've posted all of the (full) songs on his website (go to the "News" page) so you can listen to all of it before buying. My favorites so far are "You Raise Me Up" (heard on that Jessica Lynch movie the other night), "Mi Mancherai", and "When You Say You Love Me".
When You Say You Love Me
Like the sound of silence calling,
I hear your voice and suddenly
I'm falling, lost in a dream.
Like the echoes of our souls are meeting,
You say those words, my heart stops beating.
I wonder what it means.
What could it be that comes over me?
At times I can't move.
At times I can hardly breathe.
(chorus)
When you say you love me,
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me,
For a moment, there's no one else alive
You're the one I've always thought of
I don't know how but I feel sheltered in your love.
You're where I belong.
And when you're with me, if I close my eyes,
There are times I swear I feel like I can fly
For a moment in time.
Somewhere between the Heavens and Earth,
Frozen in time, Oh, when you say those words.
When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
For a moment there's no one else alive
And this journey that we're on
How far we've come and I celebrate every moment.
And when you say you love me,
That's all you have to say
I'll always feel this way.
When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
In that moment I know why I'm alive.
When you say you love me
When you say you love me
Do you know how I love you?
yam [9:11 AM 0 comments ]
[ Monday, November 10, 2003 ]
Ouchie, Itchy!
When I picked Matthew up from daycare tonight, I notice that there was a bit of a red spot on the side of his face. When he came closer, it was a lot more than just a red spot and his right eye was all swollen. He told the women there that he got it from playing basketball, but he didn't have that much of a swollen eye this morning.
Looks like he lost a fight!
And then he showed me where his hand was all itchy and you could see where he got bitten by some insect in many places! All tolled I think he must have about 7 bites on him, one on the cheek, one next to his eye, three on the right hand and one on his left!
Ohh, so many bites on his hand!
Put lots of hydrocortisone cream on his bites, and gave him some Benedryl tonight before going to bed. Hopefully the redness and swelling will go down by morning, but I remember during the summer when he got bitten on the backs of his legs, those big bumps didn't go away for several days. He must be very allergic to whatever kind of insect bite those were!
Mango Wango
OK, so this is totally irrelevant to what happened today, but this evening we went to Costco to pick up a few things and I bought these beautiful looking mangos and had to take a picture of them. Matthew literally raced me to eat up the one I cut for us to eat tonight. That kid sure loves mango!!
Fresh, ripe mangos. So Mmmmmm...
yam [8:40 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, November 09, 2003 ]
Weekend WrapIt wasn't exactly an exciting weekend by any means, but I sure seem to have been writing a lot lately. Just in the mood to emote.
Home Trauma Center
I forgot to mention that on Friday night we went to our fellowship meeting. Most everyone was late so we didn't really get into much, but we were able to discuss the evening's topic which was on making the home a "Trauma center" for our children. In other words, we should try our best to make sure that home is a place where our kids can feel safe, both physically and emotionally. That even though the world is a tough place, our offspring can feel like they can bring any problems home or need an escape from the stresses of the real world, they will always feel comfortable and protected at home. Sometimes we forget about that and over-criticize, get impatient, or get angry at times when our kids need support.
I really went into extreme detail on Saturday, so there's not much more for me to add about that.
Am I A Mean Parent?
Today (Sunday) was a good day, without too much stress. Went to Matthew's basketball game at 11:00 and as usual, had a good time. But there was one point in the game when Matthew got hit in the eye with the basketball and started to cry and I had to decide whether or not I should run out on the court to take care of him. I first let one of the coaches tend to him, but just sat there until he walked over to me sitting on the sidelines. He looked OK to me, just a bit startled. Then this lady that works for the league took him to sit him down and put an ice pack on his eye. At the next break I walked across the floor to check on him and he looked fine, so I asked him if he was ready to go back into the game, and he said yes. He was just fine the rest of the game. I was having a conversation with some of the parents on the team (a couple of other kids had some "accidents" today too) and we were joking about how some others may think we are being cold or cruel because we don't jump up and run to them every time they get hurt. But we know our kids, and we know that sometimes they just want to draw attention to themselves due to some minor pain. They have to learn they are going to get bumped and hit sometimes and to just grin and bear it, and that mom or dad isn't just gonna run to them for every little thing. Of course, right after the game, the lady came back to me and said, "You may think we're being over-zealous, but we care about the kids and his eye was RED." Well, yeah, it was red because he was crying!
But the most exciting part of the game was when Matthew made a really nice shot at the "buzzer" at the end of the game and everybody cheered very loudly! Almost brought a tear to my eye. *sniff*
After the game we went to have lunch at La Salsa, and then grocery shopping at Trader Joes next door. We totally lucked out because I got a parking space right in the front, in that tiny, tiny parking lot they have there. While shopping, J called me on my cell phone, and we talked and talked and talked like we usually do. While we were chit-chatting we both decided that we were going to make Onion Soup for dinner, so I picked up some nice Hawaiian onions for the dish. Matthew pointed to some Emeril Lagasse pasta sauce in the store, because we had just seen Emeril on his show last night, on which Emeril made onion soup. J was all excited about making onion soup after hearing about that dish, so now we had to make it. Of course, we didn't think about all the ingredients that we needed until after I got home and checked some cook books. Needed to have some beef broth to make it right, and didn't have any, but I did find some Lawry's Au Jus mix and used that instead. Not as good as beef broth, but it still was a nice change for dinner, served with English muffin bread and melted Swiss cheese.. Also cooked rice, and made some zucchini with Apple chicken sausages to round out the meal. (J, how did your soup come out???)
Matthew Sez
I know that Matthew is really growing up, much to my chagrin. He was watching Keenan and Kel on Nickelodeon, about two kids getting into wacky dating situations, and so he asks me a couple of times, "Do you have a girlfriend? Do you take out a date? WHERE would you go?" Hahaha, I don't even remember how I answered his questions, but Matthew went dancing around the house singing "GIRL Friend, GIRL Friend, ohh, ohh, Girl Friend...."
Oh boy.
yam [11:08 PM 0 comments ]
[ Saturday, November 08, 2003 ]
Ho-humIt was a typical Saturday for us, but somehow it was more enjoyable this time since I didn't have to compromise anything this time due to Matthew or me feeling bad. (And no, haven't been taking any pictures this weekend yet)
Got up early this morning since I wanted to pick up around the house before the cleaning lady came over, and since I had a basketball game at 9:00. We just barely made it to the gym in time for the start, so I only got to stretch a bit before playing and didn't get to do any warming up. Uhh, so maybe that's why my first three shots of the day were total AIRBALLS?? I was matched up against Cal today, who wager to guess is about 5'10, so I thought it might be better for me since I wouldn't have to chase after some quick rabbit like I usually do. But because he's bigger than me, I had to use my muscle and weight instead to compensate for the difference in height. Well, I think I held my own, but I got much more of a workout and my legs are sore tonight! As the time wore on, I finally warmed up and did make a few baskets, so it was generally a good session of hoops.
Immediately afterwards we took off for home, but made a stop at Starbux for some (guess what?) Gingerbread Latte. Oh Yeah, it was mighty tasty! First time I ever had one, but the way that J has been talking about it, I had to try it for myself.
We went home, Matthew changed his clothes and I got all the stuff ready for my turn at snack day for the soccer team. Well, I did something really dumb. I was trying to get at the ice chest up on the shelf in the garage and couldn't quite reach it. But instead of being smart and getting the ladder, I just tried jumping up and flipping it up from the bottom with my finger to make it fall down. Well, I caught my fingernail on the chest underneath and ripped it, with a tear going horizontally about halfway across, about halfway down the nail. OUCH!
Headed over to Matthew's soccer game a little before 11 and found myself a place on the sidelines to watch the game. I thought it was going to be cold out there, so I wore my sweatshirt and sweatpants, but after only a few minutes in the sun, it started getting quite warm! It was a fun game to watch as usual, but unfortunately Matthew's team spent almost the whole game on their end of the field and ended up losing. Eh, but it was fun nonetheless.
After the game, we headed over to Subway and picked up a couple of sandwiches to take home and eat and share with the housekeeper. Relaxed a bit, but when I saw on the web what looked like a storm front coming in, I went out in the back and trimmed and mowed the lawn, as Matthew played basketball and swung on the swings (is THAT proper English, swung on the swings??). When I finished up, I jumped on the swings for a little bit and played with Matthew. He seemed to enjoy the time!
Then it was out to run a few errands, like going to the bank, picking up this three-tiered recyclable bins at Bed, Bath & Beyond (with a $5 coupon), did some grocery shopping at Smart & Final (to avoid the striking markets again), stopped at Sav-On to find some Fruit By The Foot to add to the Basketball team goodie bags, since those boys really like those.
Home to dump off all the things that we bought, and it was time to head out to Matthew's basketball practice. The boys had a good time as usual, practicing and playing, while I was on the cell with Mikey and Shelly for most of the time. :)
Practice was over and it was now after 6 so we were getting pretty hungry. I thought about driving past Curry House to see if they were busy, and to my surprise, they weren't so we stopped in. Well just a few minutes after and the place was packed! Matthew had his usual kids' meal, curry rice plate (and finished every bit of it) and I tried this new dish, Tofu Katsu curry, which was very good. I didn't quite understand it, but they told me that it only comes with mild curry (how hard is it to put on one of the spicier curries???). Well, the waitress gave me some chili oil to spice it up a bit, but on the table was that green goodness known as "Green Tabasco", so I generously used that to spice up my food. Yummm! I gotta remember to buy some of that for home.
While we were eating we saw people we knew (we almost always run into someone we know there!). One of Matthew's friends (Kyle) from his old school and his mom stopped by to talk for a bit, and later on my friend Chris, that I used to play basketball with, came by and we talked for at least 15 minutes. It's funny, he knows one of Matthew's coaches, since she is only a year older than his daughter in high school. (Yeah, the world gets smaller and smaller all the time!) We caught up a bit, but mostly talked about our kids sports activities.
So in all of its gory details, that was pretty much our day. Wow, how did I manage to write so much stuff again? Just another day in the life of two yams.
yam [11:25 PM 0 comments ]
[ Friday, November 07, 2003 ]
Such a DadI'm such a DAD these days. With this being Friday, what did I do at lunchtime today? While everyone else was going out to lunch with their buddies, to some fun place for lunch, I was going to Wal-Mart to buy snacks for Matthew's teams. This weekend I have snack duty for both his soccer and basketball teams, so I needed to make a snack run today. After getting the super box of individually wrapped chips (Doritos, Lays, etc.), bags of Teddy Grahams, and a big case of Sunny D to drink, and the thrill of that was over, I stopped at McDonalds for their gourmet salad, with grilled chicken and Newman's Own, low fat vinaigrette dressing. But at least I treated myself to a "baked" apple pie. Heh, I really know how to live it up, don't I?
yam [10:38 PM 0 comments ]
[ Thursday, November 06, 2003 ]
HodgepodgeLast night I made what turned out to be one of the bestest tasting fruit shakes! Excuse me if I think it was even better than a Jamba Juice! It had frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, frozen mangos, cranberry juice, orange juice, vanilla soy milk, ice and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. Man, was that good!
Was having a really off-the-wall conversation with J last night where we brought up the old, old kids show H.R. Pufnstuf. Those of you old enough will probably remember that truly weird show. That dude looked like a bad nightmare you'd have from an acid trip, and Witchiepoo would be how you felt on the withdrawals! I can't believe that they only filmed 17 episodes! Even the song is weird.
Man, I'm going nuts right now watching the Lakers-Spurs game in Double overtime! Shoot, the Lakers have really started out the season on a fast start going 4-0 so far... UPDATE: WOW, what a game! The Lakers won, 120-117!!!
Matthew seems to be doing a lot better now, with just an occasional cough now. Will continue giving the antibiotics until they run out, so he should be good to go. My mom brought dinner over for us tonight and Matthew devoured the baked sweet potato that she brought and he asked for another one! I guess I have to buy some of those at the market next time.
yam [10:27 PM 0 comments ] This post has no purpose.....
Other than to show this animated icon that I found of the late Chris Farley that amused me.
yam [1:54 PM 0 comments ]
[ Wednesday, November 05, 2003 ]
Cold Weather Means Comfort FoodI'm probably the last person to complain about the weather, but wow what a wacky change in the weather we've had! A week ago we were in shorts and t-shirts, sweating from 90 degree temps and coughing from all the smoke in the air. But yesterday it was rainy and we never even reached 60 degrees! Brrrrr! At one point at work yesterday I was hearing this loud noise outside the building (nothing really new since we work next to the airport) but the sound was much louder than usual. So I stood up and noticed several people standing by the window watching a downpour. And we noticed one of our co-workers who was traversing back to the office in the pouring rain, with no jacket on, carrying an open bowl of soup from the cafeteria. Poor guy, we were laughing our heads off at him!!!
This crazy weather has been taking it's toll on Matthew, and that cough and cold he's had has gotten worse, so I made an appointment to see his doctor yesterday. I took off early from work, picked him up right after school and went in to the doctor's office. I was really surprised that the waiting room was empty but the receptionists said that they have been extremely busy. After just a few minutes, the alternate pediatrician saw Matthew and she said that he probably just has a secondary bacterial infection since he's been coughing for over three weeks now, and didn't look that bad. She gave us a prescription for antibiotics and said that should do it. Already today Matthew seems a lot better!
Since we were home early and the weather was so chilly, I thought that taking some extra time to make some soup would be a really good thing to have for dinner, so I started looking through the fridge and cupboard to see what we had. I just bought some fresh scallops the other day, so I looked at my cookbooks for a seafood soup recipe and found this one that was made with scallops, crabmeat, creamed corn, black forest mushrooms, and a few other tasty things. Sounded really good and I started preparing the ingredients when I realized that I was totally out of chicken broth!
Since the striking workers are being generous and not picketing at Ralphs markets right now, I thought I could just run down the street and fight the crowds to just get a couple of cans of chicken broth. And since we were out, I needed to pick up Matthew's prescription, so I thought I'd stop there too. Well, I forgot that the street to the drugstore was closed for repairs, so I had to drive about 3 miles out of my way around the neighborhood to get those meds, and then back around to go to Ralphs. I actually found a parking space and we ran in just as the rain was starting to come down again. But when we got into the store, many of the shelves were empty and of course, they were totally out of chicken broth! Arrgh!
So that meant driving over to Bristol Farms again, where I just went the night before. Fortunately they had plenty of chicken broth, and we were finally back in business. It was a little bit late but we ended up having a pretty nice cold weather meal. Yummm!
Today continued to be quite chilly, although no more wet weather, so it is definitely autumn now (even though this weather is a good 15 degrees cooler than normal for us!). I was talking to J today and she was so happy that Starbucks in her area now has Gingerbread Latte, one of her favorite taste sensations! Since I hadn't had one yet I was interested to try some, since I like gingerbread too. So I did a search on the net and found what is supposed to be an authentic recipe for it on CDkitchen:
Starbucks Gingerbread Latte
Gingerbread Syrup
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh espresso
8 ounces milk, steamed (with a little foam)
Garnish
whipped cream
ground nutmeg
1. Prepare the gingerbread syrup by combining water, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and vanilla in a medium saucepan.
2. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat and simmer syrup, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat and cover.
3. Make a double shot of espresso (1/2 cup), using an espresso machine. Use the machine to steam 8 ounces of milk, or heat up the milk in the microwave if your machine does not foam and steam milk.
4. Add 1/2 cup espresso to a 16-ounce cup. Add 1/4 cup of the gingerbread syrup, followed by the steamed milk. Stir.
5. Top with a dollop of whipped cream, and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
Serves 1 (or two small mugs)
So, tonight after dinner, I got the bright idea of making some Gingerbread cookies with Matthew. J got me thinking about how good the taste of gingerbread is and how long it's been since I last had some, so I had to make some myself. Nothing like the smell of warm gingerbread, wofting through the house on a cold autumn evening....
OK, no wisecracks about the funny-looking Gingerbread man
Found this recipe for Gingerbread cookies and tried them out (not too bad, but I think ones with molasses are much better. Note to self, go buy some molasses):
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick), softened
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons dark corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
1. Into large bowl, measure flour, 3/4 cup sugar, and remaining ingredients. With mixer at low speed, beat ingredients until just mixed; increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refridgerate 2 hours until firm enough to handle.
2. Preheat oven to 375F. On floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll half of dough 1/8 inch thick, keeping rest of dough refrigerated.
3. Using floured 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Place cookies, about 1 inch apart, on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake cookies 5 to 8 minutes until light golden. Sprinkle cookies with sugar. Immediately remove cookies to wire racks to cool. Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings. Store cookies in tightly covered container.
Thanks, J!!!
Bon Apetite!
yam [12:16 AM 0 comments ]
[ Tuesday, November 04, 2003 ]
another long post coming later tonight....yam [9:00 PM 0 comments ]
[ Sunday, November 02, 2003 ]
Weekend UpdateWarning: This is a long boring entry. Turn back now. You've been warned!!!!
Let me back up to Thursday night when we took my parents out for my mom's birthday (on Halloween day, actually) to Gyu-kaku, a Japanese yakiniku restaurant that just opened up in the area recently. Perhaps we ordered the wrong thing (the seafood dinner set), but I wasn't impressed at all. The place was freezing, very loud hip-hop music, expensive and didn't even give us enough to eat. Matthew didn't like it either. This is supposed to be the best place in Japan (800 locations), and they have a couple of U.S. locations, but I was pretty disappointed.
OK, back to the weekend. It was a rather quiet one for us, partially because Matthew's cold has come back again and I tried to cut back on some of his activities.
Saturday morning I took the SUV to get the oil changed (and they reminded me that I need to fix my brakes, and needs a tune-up too!), then over to Toys R Us to pick up a couple of gifts. Shared a Strawberry-Watermelon snow boba drink, stir fried noodles with chicken, and pork/veggie dumplings with Matthew for lunch from Tapioca Express. I was contemplating whether or not I should take Matthew to his soccer game, because his cough had really come back the last day or so and it was quite chilly outside after the previous nights winter-like rainstorm. But the decision was made when Matthew was loudly complaining about having stomach cramps and diarrhea, so I sent him to bed to sleep it off.
While Matthew slept, I went outside to wash the roadster, take down the Halloween decorations and did some cleaning up around the house. Matthew woke up just before 5:00, when he was supposed to have his basketball practice, but he was still looking kind of groggy, with lots of coughing. But since we still had to eat, and we knew that the team was going out, we went to visit them at Big Wok Mongolian barbecue. There were only a few of the team and their families there, but it was still fun to hang out with them. And it seems, as I found out on this night, that if Matthew sticks with basketball, he will be with these same kids until high school with the same coaches!
Saturday night I spent several hours online with J, chit-chatting about everything and anything (like we usually do) and had a good time as usual. I know, it's not anywhere like being able to just go out on a date, but with the current situation the way it is, I'm just going to have to be patient and take whatever I can get for now. I think that J is definitely worth the wait, but sometimes it gets very tough to not be able to see her.
This morning (Sunday) I slept in and made blueberry pancakes for the little guy and me, before going to Matthew's basketball game. They haven't played in about three weeks (two bye weekends) and it really showed. But the main thing was that they had fun, and it looked like they did. We stayed for a few minutes afterwards watching some of the girls' game, the team that Matthew knows at least 5 of the girls. He wanted to stay and watch the whole game, but I wanted him to go back and take a nap before the birthday party later in the afternoon, so we had to leave.
Well, Matthew fell asleep on the way home, as I was trying to decide what to get for lunch, so I just took him home and put him to bed for a nap and ate some leftovers. Did just a few things around the house before Matthew woke up and I had to feed him a little something.
Then it was off to the bowling alley for his friend Thea's birthday party (which was actually postponed from several months ago). Click here to see the pictures.
After the party, we needed to go shopping and I thought about going to Ralphs, since the striking retail clerks decided to back off on picketing Ralphs market for the time being. But of course when word got out, the store was just packed, so when I drove through the parking lot and saw the huge crowd, I decided to go over to Bristol Farms instead to get some groceries. Yeah, their prices are bit more expensive but it was worth it for me to avoid the crowds.
So, that was pretty much the weekend for us. If you got down this far, I commend you for reading my boring recap! Have a great week!
yam [11:21 PM 0 comments ]
